Shove It
by The Full Neko Alchemist
Summary: Based on details of Snape's past revealed in HBP. Severus, stuck with Slughorn in his Potions class, has ideas all of his own. [Snape oneshot]


**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter isn't mine. All that money. Oh well.

**Author's Note**: This was done after a fresh reading of Book 6. Snape's background is revealed, but then those of you who have read book 6 will know what I mean. The word 'Aranea' is Latin for 'spider's web', whilst 'Abstergo' means 'to wipe or clean away'. A naturally harmless potion, until Severus gets his hands on it. This is my first Potter fic in a long, long time… phew!

**Summary**: Based on details revealed in HBP. Severus, stuck with Slughorn in his Potions class, has ideas all of his own.

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**Shove It**

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_"Look here, if it isn't Snivellus. Come back for more, Snivelly?"_

_"… Shut your mouth, Potter."_

"_Oh look, James, we've offended the little Slytherin. What are you going to do, Snivelly, go home crying to mummy?' Sirius sneered, a nasty look on his face. 'Maybe you should get some clean underwear first. Or maybe you can't afford the ride home. I've seen your mom, she's as ugly as you are -!"_

_"- Langlock!"_

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Annoying buggers…

Potter running off to the infirmary with his tongue attached to the roof of his mouth had, at least, given him a good laugh.

Even though Severus played down his family, and indeed the black-haired Slytherin had little love for his Muggle father, those words Black had said about his mother had _hurt_. Such an image as his was hard to maintain, especially when one considered that he was a half-blood. A Half-Blood Prince in Slytherin. He had to laugh at the irony.

Bellatrix and her friends did not even have an _inkling_ as to what he truly was.

The image of Black's head being beneath his knife came to mind as Severus shaved away at a shrivelled root for use in his potion. It was hard dealing with James Potter and his three cohorts, but he was coping.

Severus smiled nastily to himself. Besides, it was not as if he were innocent. Not in the least. There were a few new curses he had invented over the summer that he longed to test out, to put into practice.

_I'll get them back for humiliating me. That Mudblood, too. To think I'd be classed in the same category as her… even if she _does_ have a knack for Potions._

Fuming about what had happened the previous year beside the lake, Severus's mind was plotting and scheming about how to get revenge for the humiliation and degradation he had suffered at Black and Potter's hands. Lupin and Pettigrew's too. Those two, sitting aside and pretending nothing was happening.

_And they call Gryffindor the house of the brave! Ha! What a joke._

He had been stripped bare that day by Potter: stripped not just in the physical sense but also stripped of his pride. If there was one thing he had, it was a proud belief in his own abilities. After all, he had created the very jinx that had turned him upside down in midair in the first place.

_Offset by my own curse. How embarrassing…_

Severus scribbled something down in his old Advanced Potions Making book, next to the entry on the Abstergo potion. Just some small adjustments would be needed to turn it into a more effective tool:

_Abstergo – something to wipe that stupid look off Black's face. Literally._

Once done, Severus put some of the ingredients into his old cauldron, after which he fell back down onto his stool, his curtain of black hair shrouding his face. His hands linked together in his lap as he gazed around him. Potter and Black were messing about as usual, flicking pieces of ingredients at their nearby housemates.

Narrowing his eyes as Black gazed at him with an evil smile, Severus looked away as a piece of Flubberworm was shot towards his face, courtesy of Black's finger. It bounced off his hair and onto the floor.

Ignoring what had happened, Severus gazed behind him at the other Slytherins. Bellatrix, a 'friend' he had made some years previously, was working with the Corvus girl, whilst Evan Rosier was with Rudolphus.

They were all partnered into groups of two, but he, Severus Snape, was working on his own. Slughorn understood his reasoning; someone as gifted as he was found it easier to work alone. Plus there was the stubborn act he would put on if forced to work with a partner, especially a Gryffindor.

That had happened the last year and it had not been pretty. Safe to say that the staff had reached a quick decision: letting him work alone would be in _everyone's_ best interests.

Time soon passed, pushing Severus, who had his attention elsewhere, into the last few minutes of his lesson.

"Perhaps Mr. Snape would care to show us his entry?"

Hearing a voice, Severus looked across the dim Potions classroom at Professor Slughorn, his Head of House looking at him expectantly. He had almost forgotten… Slughorn had made them all come up with an antidote to his poison, the prize being a small bottle of Aranea. He had no use for it, but considering that it could fix almost any breakages and restore them to its former glory made it worthwhile. His family being what it was, he could save it to take back home for his mother.

Why his mother had even married a Muggle went beyond him. The Princes had been a Pureblood family for generations. But then again, were it not for his father, he would not even be here.

It made him laugh. Him, Severus Snape, a half-blood, was outperforming Purebloods in most of his subjects, especially Potions and Defence Against The Dark Arts. As was that girl Potter liked.

Severus's eyes cast furtive glances around him as he rose from his stool; his classmates were all waiting for his answer.

"I have my entry, Professor" he said, walking up to Slughorn's front table.

Ignoring Black's mummers of 'well, where is it?'. Severus unfurled his clenched right fist, revealing what lay within.

Lying alone on his sallow palm was a small black stone, a bezoar.


End file.
